Unconscious
by khollyk
Summary: “Amanda....what's wrong?” She walked forward, stopping at his desk she put her hands down and braced herself against it, “It's Betty....her town car...” she stopped and closed her eyes. “The police are on line two,” she whispered.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know a lot of you are waiting on me to finish "Through the Glass Window" but I just couldn't get this idea out of my head today, so I _had_ to start it! I spent almost all weekend watching my Season One dvd and man...I have tons of new FF ideas now! My whole issue though, is...how long is this writer's strike going to last?! I'm starting to get nervous! **

**Anyways...enjoy this chapter, and please R&R! Thanks!**

**DISCLAIMER: Ugly Betty isn't mine, so don't sue me. I don't have anything you'd want, anyways.**

* * *

Daniel's stomach grumbled as he signed off on the last page of The Book. _'I hope Betty hurries up with lunch...I'm starving,'_ he thought as he closed the book and slid it to the corner of his desk. He looked at his watch. It had been over an hour since he had called the town car to pick up Betty to drive her across the city to his favorite Japanese restaurant because he was craving their yakisoba noodles. He reached for his phone and hit her speed dial number.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Ring. "Hi, you've reached Betty Suarez. I can't make it to the phone right now, so please leave me a message and I'll get back to you as soon as I can," she said in a cheery voice.

"Betty, it's me. You didn't actually go all the way to Japan to get those noodles, right?" he laughed. "Hurry up, I'm starving!" He looked out the window at her desk and saw Amanda briskly walking towards his office.

When she made it to the doorway she stopped for a moment, not saying a word. Finally, she spoke, "Daniel..." she said quietly.

A sinking feeling came over him as he looked up at her. She was biting her lip the hands that were usually stuck on her hips with attitude and sass were limply hanging by her sides. "Amanda...what's wrong?"

She walked forward, stopping at his desk she put her hands down and braced herself against it, "It's Betty...her town car..." she stopped and closed her eyes. "The police are on line two," she whispered as she sat in the chair facing his desk.

Suddenly, his mouth went dry and his hands began to tremble. He sat motionless for a few seconds and finally looked down at the white phone sitting in front of him. Line two was blinking. He looked back at Amanda who was now looking down and biting her nails. Finally he found the strength to reach over and pick up the phone. "This is Daniel Meade," he said quietly.

"Mr. Meade, this is Sargent Olsen. I'm sorry to tell you that a town car registered to Mode Magazine was just involved in a pretty serious accident down here at the intersection of Roosevelt and Fifth and --" the voice on the phone began.

"Is she okay? Is the passenger in the car okay? Is she...alive?" Daniel interrupted.

"The passenger was taken down to St. Vincent's," the voice said. "I'm sorry but I haven't recently gotten an update on her condition, sir."

Feeling slightly relieved that his worst case scenario hadn't been confirmed, Daniel said "Okay, thanks. Bye," as he hung up the phone and looked over at Amanda, who was still biting her nails.

"What'd he say?" she said as they both stood up.

Daniel turned and took his jacket off the back of his chair and began heading for the doorway, "The guy had no information on her condition, but she's down at St. Vincent's. I'll be down there the rest of the day. If you need anything, call Alexis," he said as he rounded the corner, leaving Amanda alone in his office.

* * *

He sat in the back of his town car, watching the blur of the scenes outside as he whizzed by. _'If she __doesn't make it out of this...I'll never forgive myself,'_ he thought as a lone tear fell from his eye. He quickly wiped it away and slightly tilted his head back, hoping it would help keep anymore tears from falling. He then realized that he would have to call Betty's family. He took out his cell phone and went to 'Betty – Home' but the thought of having to tell Mr. Suarez that he had sent his Betty out across town to get him noodles, and now she was lying in a hospital bed, was too difficult. He scrolled down awhile more until he reached Hilda's number and took a deep breath before pressing the call button.

"Hello?" she answered after the first ring.

He paused, "Hilda, it's Daniel," he said shakily.

"Daniel? What are you..." she stopped. "Where's Betty? Is she okay?"

"No, she's been involved in an accident," he replied, his voice cracking on the last word. "She's down at St. Vincent's. I'm on my way down there right now."

Hilda was quiet. "Okay, I'll call Papi and we'll meet you."

"Okay...bye," he whispered as he felt another warm tear sliding down his cheek.

Hilda could hear the pain in Daniel's voice, "Daniel," she said.

"Hm?" was all he could manage.

"It's Betty. She's a fighter. She's gonna be okay," she said, hoping it would soothe him.

He took a deep breath, "I know."

"Okay, bye," she whispered, trying to hold back her tears until after she hung up.

"Bye," he replied.

* * *

As soon as the town car pulled to a stop outside the hospital, Daniel leapt out and started for the door. When he walked through the doors he walked up to the desk. "I'm looking for a Betty Suarez. I just got a call that she was involved in an accident and was being taken here," he said to the woman behind the desk.

"Suarez?" she asked as she turned to her computer.

"Yeah, Betty," he replied as he rested his elbows on the counter top. He watched as the woman typed something on her computer. After a few clicks she finally looked up at him, "Ms. Suarez is in surgery right now. Who are you?"

_'Surgery?'_ Daniel thought to himself as he cradled his head in his hands. "I'm Daniel Meade," he said without looking up. "Her boss."

The woman's heart went out to the man on the other side of her desk. "Well, Mr. Meade she's up on floor sixteen. She'll probably be put into ICU, at least for a little while after she comes out, which means only family can visit. But you can head on up there if you want...do you need me to bring you?"

Daniel finally lifted his head and looked over at the woman. Forcing a small smile onto his face, he said, "No, I should be able to find it. But thank you," as he turned to walk towards the elevators.

"No problem. Good luck," she replied as she watched him walk away.

* * *

As Daniel exited the elevator on the sixteenth floor the scents and sights of the busy hospital rushed to his senses, reminding him of the last time he had been here, when he lost his father. He paused and finally sat in the nearest chair that faced the elevator, so that he'd be able to catch Betty's family when they walked in. He rested his chin in his hands and lightly closed his eyes, lost in thought. _'I am such an idiot, why did I have to have those stupid noodles today? And why'd I send Betty? She's your assistant, not your slave, you dumbass!'_ he chided himself. He squeezed his eyes tighter, hoping to close off the path for the tears he knew were ready to come rolling down his face. He was about to start in on himself again when he felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

He looked up. "Mr. Suarez," he said, surprised. "You made it here quickly."

"Hilda was almost home when you called, so she called me on her way and Justin and I just met her at the car. Have you heard anything about Betty yet?"

"No, I just got here, myself. They said she's in surgery, but they probably won't talk to me because I'm not family," he explained, as he stood up and put his hands in his pants pockets.

"Okay, well I'll go try to find something out. You stay over there with Hilda and Justin," Ignacio said as he motioned over toward the elevator where the mother and son were standing, huddled together.

As Mr. Suarez turned away, Daniel took a deep breath and began walking towards Betty's sister. As he came nearer he noticed the smudge of makeup underneath her eyes where she had been crying. Hilda saw him walking over and let go of Justin and softly smiled over at Daniel, "Hey," she said quietly. "Have you heard anything?"

"No, your dad went to ask," he said as he greeted Justin with a firm grasp on the shoulder. Justin looked up with a half hearted smile for a second before looking back down at his feet. Hilda gave Daniel a sympathetic look and put her hand on Justin's other shoulder. Daniel looked down at the young boy and squatted down, looking up at his face, "Hey, Justin. She's gonna be okay. It's Betty, she's a fighter," he said, echoing what Hilda had told him earlier on the phone. Justin nodded and turned in toward his mother and buried his face in her shoulder.

Daniel stood and gave Hilda a smile as she stepped toward her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder and closed his eyes. After a moment, she quietly said, "Oh, look, here comes Papi."

Daniel opened his eyes and looked ahead to see a very anxious looking Ignacio Suarez coming towards him.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews! Hope everyone had a Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best for 2008!

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**

Daniel looked down at his watch, and then back into the mirror he had been staring into for the past forty three minutes. It was hard to believe that just 3 hours ago Betty had sitting in his office, laughing with him about the orange color of Fabia's new fake 'n' bake tan and now... '_now she's lying on a table in an operating room and I'm standing here in the bathroom, doing anything to avoid having to look her family in the eye.' _When Mr. Suarez had returned to the group earlier, he had no information except that Betty was in the middle of a very complicated shoulder surgery, and that the surgeon would be out to speak to the family as soon as the surgery was over.

A few more moments went by, with Daniel chiding himself, going back and forth between glaring at himself in the mirror and pacing back and forth in front of the stalls. Finally, the door opened and Mr. Suarez walked up behind Daniel in the mirror and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Daniel," he said. "What are you doing?"

Daniel took a deep breath and said, "I don't know. I'm just not very good at this whole hospital thing...especially when," he ran a hand through his hair, "I'm the reason we're here."

"What are you talking about? You had nothing to do with this, Daniel. It was an accident," Mr. Suarez said as he reached over and pulled Daniel's far shoulder, bringing the two men face to face.

Daniel shook his head, "No. If I hadn't made Betty go out and get those stupid noodles, she wouldn't even be in this mess!"

Mr. Suarez looked him in the eye and spoke softly. "Daniel this is _not_ your fault. Betty has gone out everyday for the past two years and gotten your lunch, and nothing has happened to her. Today it did. But you can't blame yourself...because no one else does," he said with a comforting smile.

Daniel still looked unsure, but replied quietly, "Okay."

"Now you're coming back out here with the rest of the family. Betty would never forgive me if she found out I left you in here to beat yourself up over something you had no control over," Mr. Suarez said as he turned to face the door.

Daniel smiled, knowing Ignacio was exactly right as he remembered Betty's previous pep talks she had given him in this very building. "Thanks, Mr. Suarez. Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your family--"

Mr. Suarez interrupted him. "Daniel, you may be Betty's boss, but, and correct me if I'm wrong...you're also her friend," he paused as Daniel nodded. "Her very _good_ friend. She cares about you, Daniel. A lot. When I brought your mother up here the day your father died, I tried to get Betty to come home with me, saying she should leave you with your family, but she wouldn't. '_Daniel needs me'_ she said," he paused to smile. "Now, unless you don't care as much for her," Daniel shook his head. "You'll come back out here with me."

Daniel smiled. "I'm coming," he said as she followed Mr. Suarez to the door. "I see where Betty gets her persuasiveness from."

Mr. Suarez smiled, "Oh, that was nothing. You should have seen her mother."

* * *

As the two men walked towards the waiting room, Hilda looked up and and gave a comforting smile as she moved her handbag from the chair next to her to the floor, making room for Daniel.

No more than three minutes later the doors opened and a police officer made his way over to the group.

"Suarez?" he asked as he approached.

Ignacio stood to shake the man's hand, "Ignacio Suarez, Betty's father. And this is her sister, Hilda; and her friend, Daniel."

The officer shook the other two hands and introduced himself as Officer Olsen. Daniel recognized the name as the same man who he had talked to on the phone. As the group took their seats, Olsen began to talk. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, which I'll do my best to answer. But first, I'm going to start out with the basics. Ms. Suarez was involved in a five vehicle accident. There were no fatalities, and three of the other victims have been hospitalized as well, unfortunately Ms. Suarez was the most critically injured, as her vehicle felt the strongest impact."

Hilda let out a small whimper. Daniel put an arm around her shoulders as they continued listening.

"I'm also going to tell you that this was no freak accident," he folded his hands. "The driver of the vehicle that hit the town car was heavily intoxicated, and slammed into Ms. Suarez' vehicle at a rate of about 65 miles an hour."

Hilda looked up at Daniel as she felt his body tense. "Who was it? What was the driver's name?"

"I'm sorry sir, I can't give you that information," Olsen replied.

"I know you have it right there in that file," Daniel retorted, eying the manila envelope the man had set next to him.

"I'm sorry, sir."

"My best friend is lying on an operating table right now because of this bastard, and you're telling me I can't have his name?" he said with a clenched jaw. Had it not been for Hilda's small frame wrapped in his arm, he felt sure that he would be standing nose to nose with the officer by now.

"Daniel," Hilda said as she took his hand that wasn't wrapped around her shoulder and clasped her hand on top of it. "Calm down."

Daniel looked down at her and apologized, but never relaxed his body.

The officer cleared his throat and took out a card and handed it to Mr. Suarez. "This is really all the information I have right now, so if no one else has any questions I'm going to leave you with this card. My name and number are on it, so if you think of anything, don't hesitate to give me a call."

Mr. Suarez took the card and stood to shake the man's hand. After eying Daniel one last time, he turned and left. After his departure, the group was quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts until a thin man in a white coat walked over and sat in the chair the officer had just vacated. "Mr. Suarez?" he asked.

Ignacio shook his head, "Yes sir, that's me."

The man extended his hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Walsh, Betty's doctor."


	3. Chapter 3

**Please...leave love!

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**Dr. Walsh looked down at the four anxious faces staring back up at him and rubbed his hands together as he took the seat previously occupied by the cop. "Well, first off let me tell you that Betty's surgery was a success. It wasn't an easy surgery, but I have no doubt that it will be fully healed within eight to ten weeks." 

"Oh, thank you Doctor!" the Mr. Suarez exclaimed. Dr. Walsh watch the sea of relief spread across Daniel's face, and he inwardly cringed, preparing himself to break the rest of the news.

The doctor paused for a moment before speaking. "However," he began. "I'm afraid I do have some more news." Hilda and Daniel exchanged glances and turned back towards Dr. Walsh.

"What is it? Is she gonna be okay?" Daniel asked, the relief that had previously spread across his handsome face gone without a trace, replaced with worry and fear.

The doctor gave him his best comforting look before beginning. "She is currently in a state of unconsciousness – better described as a mild coma," he paused as Hilda began crying. She turned and buried her face in Daniel's chest as he instinctively pulled her closer, but he never took his eyes off the doctor. "She suffered a severe blow to the left side of her body, as the impact of the other vehicle was almost directly into the backseat she was occupying. But, I will tell you...I am very optimistic that she'll make a full recovery. Most of the time, these mild comas only last about three days. We are going to continue monitoring her brain activity, and if after three days she's shown no improvement, we will re-evaluate her diagnosis." As he concluded, he looked around at the four somber faces staring back at him, as Hilda had managed to pull herself away from Daniel's shoulder.

"Can we see her?" Hilda asked, between sobs.

Dr. Walsh gave a comforting smile. "Of course. She's right down here in room 1642. And I think it would only quicken her recovery if she were around the people she loves, so feel free to talk to her, hold her hand, anything to let her know you're around," he explained as he stood. The others followed suit and began following the doctor as he walked down the hall.

* * *

Daniel stood, feet firmly rooted to the white tile as he watched Betty's family follow the doctor down the hall. Hilda had turned, motioning him to join them but he had just shaken his head and muttered that he'd be there in a minute. The thought of his crazy, quirky...cute assistant lying motionless in hospital bed just down the hall was too much for him to take. 

As he slowly fell out of his trance, he noticed the empty chairs around him and sat back in his own. Burying his face in his hands he squeezed his eyes tightly, forcing the tears back into his tear ducts. _'My God...if she doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'm gonna do'...'No Daniel! You can't think like that, of course she's going to wake up! She's Betty...she never lets you down.' _

After what seemed like hours, Daniel finally mustered up the strength to make his way down the hall. _1636...1638...1640...1642..._ Stopping at the doorway, his heart skipped a beat as he looked into the dimly lit room. There was Betty..._his_ Betty lying in the middle of a hospital bed in a plain white gown, hooked up to more wires than he could even count at the moment. He braced his hand tightly against the door frame as he watched Hilda gently combing her fingers through Betty's long, dark hair. He closed his eyes, hoping when he opened them this would all disappear.

"Daniel," Hilda interrupted. "Come on in."

This time, his heart didn't just skip a beat – he was almost sure it had stopped. His mouth went dry, with the sound of her words. _Come on in?_ Standing in the doorway was one thing, but actually entering the room, and accepting the reality that Betty wouldn't hop out of the bed and greet him with a warm smile was more than he could bear.

Without a word, he quickly shook his head and took a step back.

"Daniel?" Hilda motioned with her hand. "Come in here."

He shook his head once more and turned back towards the direction of the waiting room. Once more, taking his seat he stared straight ahead, nothing running through his mind except for the image he had just witnessed.

* * *

A hand rested on his shoulder. "Daniel, are you okay?" 

He tore his eyes away from the wall in front of him and looked up, to find Alexis' concerned face staring back at him. He turned his face back towards the wall and muttered "I'm fine. What are you doing here?"

"Daniel," she started, as she took the seat next to him and rested her hand on his. "I know we haven't been on the best terms lately...but I know this is going to be hard... and I want to be here for you."

He looked down at her hand, resting on top of his and again, turned back to the wall. "I said I'm fine, Alexis. Just leave."

Never one to give up easily, Alexis continued, "Come on Danny, I know how much she means to you. And I've already been down and talked to her sister. She said you weren't taking it well – that you couldn't even go into her room."

Daniel closed his eyes, as the image of Betty lying in her hospital gown flashed through his mind. Finally, he whispered, "I just couldn't. It didn't even look like her. No glasses, no bright colors...no crazy sweaters," he said with a smile as he remembered her snowman sweater from last Christmas.

"She's going to wake up, Daniel. She'd never leave you, not like this," she said, running her hand through the back his hair with her free hand.

"Yeah...I know," he said.

"Come on, let's go down there. I know you want to see her," Alexis said, slowly rising from her seat.

After a moment, Daniel followed, and allowed Alexis to lead him back down the hall. As they reached the doorway, Hilda looked up from her chair and nodded to Daniel "I'll leave you alone with her." She grabbed her handbag and walked out of the room, giving Alexis a small smile as she passed.

Alexis stood in the doorway and nudged Daniel inside. He looked back at his sister, as she gave an encouraging smile, "I'll be right out here if you need me," she whispered.

Knowing he had no escape, he stepped towards Betty's bed. Stopping at her feet, he looked down at her face. She had a small line of stitches above her left eye, but other than that her face wasn't too badly injured. He took another step forward and lightly touched his fingertips to her hand, resting by her side. "Betty..." he whispered, barely audibly, before completely letting himself go, allowing the tears he had been holding in to fall freely down his face.

* * *

As she braced herself against the doorway, Alexis felt her own eyes tearing up as she watched her brother, slowly falling more and more apart with each tear that fell from his face. 


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you for all of the kind reviews so far!**

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Daniel cleared his throat and began wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. _'God, I hope Betty didn't hear that...'_ he thought to himself as he gazed back down at her motionless figure. He lightly picked up her hand and kissed it. "Sorry if you had to listen to my little..._breakdown_, there Betty. But I guess that's just a glance into my life without you – so hurry and wake up...please," he whispered with an embarrassed smile. As he placed her hand back onto the bed, something on the nightstand caught his eye – her red glasses. He picked them up and lightly put them on her face. "There, now if --" he stopped, shaking his head. "No, _when_ you wake up, you'll be able to see," he said, as he pulled the a chair over, nearer her bed.

"Excuse me, sir," he looked up, to see a nurse standing in the doorway. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This is ICU, and open visiting hours are over. Right now is for family only."

He looked back down at Betty. "Oh...okay," he stammered, pushing back his chair.

"You can come back tomorrow at noon," she said, entering the room, pulling out a blood pressure cuff.

"Tomorrow? Uh...okay," he replied as he stood still, watching the nurse put the cuff on Betty's arm.

"Excuse me, ma'am," Daniel heard. He turned towards the voice, to see Mr. Suarez standing in the doorway. "I'm Betty's father, and Daniel's welcome in here as much as he wants to be."

The nurse finished recording Betty's blood pressure in her chart and looked up, "Well, Mr. Suarez, it's not my rule, it's the hospital's. And they say family only."

Ignacio stepped forward, toward the nurse, "Well, he is family."

The young nurse looked from the old man, to the younger one on the other side of the bed. She finally turned back towards the older one, "I'll make a note of it, sir."

"Thank you," he replied, as she left the room.

Daniel stepped forward, "Thank you. But you didn't have to do that," he said, shaking Mr. Suarez' hand.

"Betty would want you here, Daniel," Mr. Suarez said with a smile.

"I hope so, because she's going to be getting a lot of me," he jokingly, although they both knew it was no joke.

"You're a good man, Daniel. She's lucky to have you as a friend," Mr. Suarez said, glancing over at his sleeping daughter.

Daniel shook his head. "Not even half as lucky as I am to have her. If she doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'm going to do," he said, nervously running his fingers through his already disheveled hair.

"She'll wake up Daniel," Mr. Suarez replied, reassuringly.

"Yeah, I know," Daniel whispered, as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Well, I should probably walk Alexis back down to her car."

"Okay, well I'll see you in awhile then," Mr. Suarez said as he stepped towards his daughter.

As Daniel stepped out of the room he saw Alexis and Hilda in deep conversation near the end of the hall. As they saw him approaching, they stopped talking, and both gave him comforting smiles.

"You ladies having fun talking about me?" he said with a sly grin.

They laughed. As he got closer, Alexis stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug. "Are you okay?" she whispered.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for coming down here," he replied. They stood in each other's embrace for a moment longer, before parting.

"Well, let me walk you down to your car," he said. Then he turned to Hilda, "Do you need anything from downstairs? Coffee, or anything?"

"No, I'm okay, thanks though," she replied. "It was nice talking with you, Alexis," she added, before walking down the hall, back towards Betty's room.

"You too," she said with a genuine smile. "Daniel, are you sure you don't want me to bring you back to your place? I can bring you back up here bright and early tomorrow morning," Alexis asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Nah, I wouldn't be able to sleep, anyway. I'd just be wondering what was going on here," he said, leading the way to the elevators.

As the elevator doors opened, Alexis stepped in. "You don't have to walk me down, I've got it from here," she said. "Besides, a few more 'Mode-ers' are waiting for you in the waiting room. They showed up while you were in with Betty."

"Okay. And thanks again for coming up here, I really appreciate it," he said.

"No problem, Daniel. I'll call you tomorrow to see how she's doing. Good night."

"Good night, Alexis," he replied, as doors closed. With that, he took a deep breath and began walking towards the waiting room.

* * *

**A/N: It was kind of short, and kind of fluffy. I apologize for both. I promise the next chapters will be better... :c)**


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